DUBLIN, Ireland - Another twenty-five people have died in Ireland as a result of the coronavirus.

15 men and ten women, all with an average age of 80, succumbed to the virus in the 24 hours until Wednesday night.

Thirteen deaths occurred in the east, 8 in the north, two in the south, and 2 in the west of the country.

Eighteen of those who died were reported as having underlying health conditions.

There have now been 235 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Meantime the number of cases of the disease rose by 365 to 6,074, according to data received by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

The numbers are not encouraging for a small country. Ireland has almost the same number of cases of coronavirus as Australia (6,103 cases), which has a population of around six times that of Ireland. Even more disturbing is that Ireland's 235 deaths is almost five times those of Australia's 51 deaths.

"Ireland continues to follow ECDC guidance with regards to testing, contact tracing and the implementation of community measures such as physical distancing and cocooning. This is the most effective way we have of slowing down the spread of this virus and saving lives," Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said Wednesday night. "Our public health guidance is under constant review and the National Public Health Emergency Team will meet again on Friday morning to review the impact of ongoing measures."

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health added: "The ECDC has said that the probability of continued spread of COVID-19 is very high. The risk of exceeding the capacity of the health system remains high even in countries like Ireland where significant public health restrictions have been put in place."

"It is for these reasons that we continue to ask people to stay at home and to follow public health advice. While we know these measures are difficult especially as we approach a sunny, bank holiday weekend, the efforts we are seeing from the public are having an impact and making a real difference," said Dr Glynn.